


Is That Alright?

by melodiousoblivion



Series: songfics [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 01:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16419602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodiousoblivion/pseuds/melodiousoblivion
Summary: "Clarke doesn’t remember living without Bellamy. Her earliest memory is of him helping her make a fairy house in the backyard. From what they’ve been told, they were in the same kindergarten class and one day were fighting each other over marker colors but the next day had banded together to stop a bully in the second grade. They’ve been inseparable ever since."Childhood best friends AU, set to Is That Alright from A Star Is Born





	Is That Alright?

**Life is so simple**

**A little boy, a little girl**

**Laughing and loving**

**Tryin' to figure out the world**

 

Clarke doesn’t remember living without Bellamy. Her earliest memory is of him helping her make a fairy house in the backyard. From what they’ve been told, they were in the same kindergarten class and one day were fighting each other over marker colors but the next day had banded together to stop a bully in the second grade. They’ve been inseparable ever since. When Bellamy’s mom got her promotion they moved in next door to the Griffin’s, and their parents never had to look far to find them.

 

Clarke was there when Octavia was born and they were 7. She helped clear the girls airways and cut the umbilical cord. The home birth had been completely accidental, but after how calm Clarke remained in a crisis and how smart she was, Bellamy knew he was head over heels for her (as head over heels as a 7 year old can be).

 

When they were 8 Clarke’s mom became head of the hospital. It was a big job, and it meant Clarke saw her mom less and less. She pretended to not be upset about it, but there were nights she’d climb out of her window and run over to Bellamy’s, crying about how she missed her mom.

 

They enter middle school at 10. Someone says Clarke and Bellamy can’t be friends because Clarke’s a girl and Bellamy’s a boy, so Clarke punches him. A girl starts laughing and gives Clarke a high-five. Just like that, Raven is a new friend. Middle school brings other friends too: Monty and Jasper, Harper and Monroe, Miller and Murphy. But at the center of it all was Bellamy and Clarke; he left his window unlocked for her to climb through, she spent hours working with him on science.

 

In eighth grade someone asks if they’re dating because Clarke is holding Bellamy’s hand. They keep being told that they won’t stay best friends in high school, but they know they will. They’re Bellamy and Clarke, they’re unstoppable.

 

So Bellamy pretends not to notice the way his heart jumps every time Clarke leans into him when they’re watching a movie, and Clarke ignores the fact that all her drawings circle back to him.

 

The funny thing was, they didn’t even consider themselves best friends. Raven was Clarke’s best friend, Miller was Bellamy’s. Bellamy and Clarke were partners, two parts of one whole. It was categorically impossible to imagine one without the other. Their friends said ‘BellamyandClarke’ like it was all one name.

 

Even their families found it hard to separate them. Jake Griffin considered Bellamy a son, taught him to tie a tie, fix a tire, be a gentleman. Octavia never knew a life without Clarke, had literally known her since the moment O was born. She was as comfortable with Clarke as she was with Bellamy and at the tender age of 6 would cling to Clarke instead of Bellamy when she got hurt, claiming Clarke was magical and could heal her (Bellamy almost agreed).

 

**It felt like summer**

**When I kissed you in the rain**

**And I know your story**

**But tell me again**

 

Their freshman year they remain inseparable. Clarke realizes she’s bisexual, Bellamy’s response is to buy her some ice cream. Octavia enters second grade and Bellamy cries, so Clarke holds him and they watch crappy YouTube videos until he falls asleep.

 

Sophomore year everything changes. This girl named Lexa comes to their school to give a speech on the environment, Clarke meets her, Clarke starts texting her, Clarke gets a girlfriend. Lexa lives 30 minutes away, but she has a car so she and Clarke are together as much as possible. Bellamy sees her less and less, until their interactions are limited to passing each other in the hall. But whenever someone asks him about it he grits his teeth, smiles, and says as long as Clarke is happy, he’s happy. Which is true. He just wants her to be happy with him.

 

One night in April, 6 months after Lexa came into the equation, Bellamy awoke to a knocking on his window. Blonde hair is illuminated by the moonlight and he can see the tears streaking down her face. He helps her open the window and lets her in. Wordlessly, they lay in his bed. She buries her face into the crook of his neck and cries, heaving sobs while he holds her. It takes her a bit to calm down but when she does, she tells him that she and Lexa broke up, and that she was sorry for abandoning him. He brushes the tears away from her face and they return to normal.

 

The summer between sophomore and junior year Bellamy moves from loving Clarke to being actually in love with her. He spends junior year staring at her lips, entranced by the way she smiled and the way she frowned. Clarke doesn’t seem to notice, though their friends do. They tease him constantly, and Raven sends him photos of Clarke randomly throughout the day; her looking frustrated in history (“It’s been whitewashed so much there’s no way to tell what’s real!”), peaceful while painting, utterly delighted when someone brings a puppy in during midterms week. Every time he smiles at the phone and texts Raven something that is vaguely admonishing. She reads right through it, of course, and continues to send him photos.

 

Junior year ends, Bellamy still loves Clarke, and summer begins. Clarke has a car this year, a big blue pickup truck that Raven helped fix. They do all the cheesy summer things: drive-in movies, star gazing, lake trips. They take Octavia to the beach, the 10 year old bouncing in the back seat. He has hundreds of photos of the two of them, Clarke showing Octavia a baby starfish she found, Octavia on Clarke’s back.

 

In July they drive an hour north to check out a farmers market and on the way back it starts to pour. Then the car breaks down. Bellamy tries to call Raven while Clarke stares at the engine, glaring at it as if that would fix the problem. She’s soaking wet, rain flattening out her hair. He climbs out of the truck and starts glaring at the engine as well. The engine is oblivious to their distaste. Losing hope of fixing the car herself, Clarke embraces being in the rain. She opens her arms to the sky and spins around, lets the cool rain wash over her. When she tries to get him to dance in the rain with her, something snaps.

 

“Bell?” Clarke furrows her brow, looking at her best friend. He looks dazed, lost, like something was just taken from him. The clouds clear from his eyes and they refocus, right on her. He raises one hand, tentative, and cups her cheek.

 

“Clarke? I’m going to kiss you now.” She doesn’t bother answering, just wraps her arms around his neck while he leans forward, capturing her lips. It’s everything he’s ever imagines, birds singing, fireworks, earth grinding to a halt. Clarke is in his arms, kissing him. He has his hands around her waist and she’s kissing him.

 

Hours later, when Raven finally picks them up, she doesn’t notice their swollen lips or register the fact that Clarke has a hickey right by her ear. Luckily she can’t see the row of them on Bellamy’s collarbone.

 

Dating Clarke is similar to being best friends with Clarke, only with the added benefits of being able to kiss her, tug her into his lap, and fall asleep knowing he could cuddle her whenever he wanted.

 

They decide not to tell their friends, everyone is trying to apply to colleges and it’s so stressful that adding a random announcement about their relationship would be useless. Their friends don’t notice anything, having become immune to the moony eyes Clarke gives Bellamy.

 

When she gets into Stanford his heart sinks a little bit, but then he looks at her and the way she’s dancing around the room in her sweatshirt with the Stanford logo and his boxers, and he makes himself be happy for her. He knows he’s not going to college yet, his mom has just been diagnosed with MS and Octavia is 10 and they need him around the house, so college can wait. But Clarke buys him plenty of Stanford gear and he wears it with pride.

 

He knows he needs to end it. Clarke knows that too. They keep putting off the inevitable conversation, waiting until a week after graduation. He meets her outside by the oak tree they built fairy houses on and they cry. No real words have to be said, they understand each other too well. So they stay there, holding each other, crying, and trying to convince themselves that maybe they could make it work.

 

He drops her off at the airport, tells himself he won’t kiss her goodbye, and then does anyway. There are tears in her eyes as she walks through security, and then she dashes back, gives him one last lingering kiss, whispers “I love you,” and walks away. This time she doesn’t look back.

 

**Nothing you say wouldn't interest me**

**All of your words are like poems to me**

**I would be honored if you would take me as I am**

 

She doesn’t know how they lose touch. She goes to Stanford, all the way across the country, and with the time difference and the stress of pre-med, it becomes easier to just not talk. He stays behind, Aurora is getting sick, and when she dies 2 years later Clarke sends him a text but he never responds. He got custody of Octavia, and is just trying to raise his little sister. Sophomore year she changes from pre-med to majoring in art and minoring in education. Her mom doesn’t speak to her for months, her dad tells Bellamy how proud he is.

 

She graduates at the top of her class and right before she enters her masters program her mom calls, telling her that her dad is sick. Abby is still head of the hospital and is still rarely home, so Clarke moves back. She moves back into her old room, her old bathroom, and gets back her old car. She doesn’t see Bellamy for a month, she’s too focused on her dad. She sees Octavia, takes her out to lunch one day. The girl has grown, obviously, but she curls into Clarke the same way she did when she was little. Octavia tells Clarke all about high school (she’s a sophomore, which Clarke can’t process) and her mom dying. Clarke cut her hair, it’s now shoulder length and has the remnants of pink streaks left over from nights of partying.

 

He doesn’t know he manages to avoid her for a month. It’d be too hard, seeing her after all these years. He’s had to grow up far too fast, been pushed into the world of parent-teacher conferences, bills, appointments, and taxes at the tender age of 20. But he manages it, gets a job in the library that has good benefits and a salary that keeps he and Octavia afloat. He takes odd jobs whenever they’re offered, picks up shifts at the bar Miller owns when he can. He thinks of her, more than he’d like to admit. He likes to imagine that she’s happy, becoming an art teacher, that she’s found someone who loves her as much as she deserves. So when Jake tells him she’s coming home he doesn’t want to see all of her bright happiness because he knows it will be too hard to acknowledge that he has no idea why it came.

 

After a month it becomes too hard, she’s becoming close with Octavia again and every time Octavia sees her she returns home bright and happy. He knows it would make his sisters day to see Bellamy and Clarke together again and he could never deny her. So he sends her a text.

 

_Hey, I heard you’re home.-B_

 

_Yeah, have been for a month. -C_

 

_Want to catch up? Get dinner? -B_

 

_I’d like that. -C_

 

They go out the next week, and he nearly trips over his feet when he sees her. She’s wearing a sundress that looks like sunshine and a flannel that he’s reasonably certain disappeared from his closet their senior year. She smiles at him when they lock eyes, not a grin, but a wistful upturn of her lips. Dinner is awkward, they make small talk and carefully tread around certain topics. That night he goes to bed, still thinking of Clarke, when he heard the familiar sound of a knock against his window pane.

 

“Deja vu?” He leans his head out the window, smirking at Clarke. She rolls her eyes and beckons him outside. He follows (of course) and they lie on the grass, looking at the stars.

 

Clarke starts to open up. She talks about ex’s, why she switched majors, her dads illness, her fear of him dying. He talks about his constant fear of failing Octavia, the permanent stress of money and his desire to go to college. By the time they finish talking the sun is peeking over the horizon, reminding them that they have lives to live. Before he goes back inside Clarke presses a soft kiss against his cheek. He can feel the imprint for the rest of the day.

 

It takes another month for them to become friends again, a month of semi-awkward conversation and missed jokes. A month of him getting used to Octavia casually saying she’s going over to Clarke’s.

 

The third month she’s home he finally gets used to having her around. She’s sick of her mothers attempted control, even when her mom is out of the house 95% of the time, so she spends the moments when her mom is home at Bellamy’s. He sends her photos of weird requests at the library, and she sends him selfies from her dads chemo appointments. They go to Octavia’s soccer games together and cheer louder than anyone else. Octavia blushes when they bring signs and matching shirts that say ‘BLAKE’ on the back. One of Miller’s bartenders quits so he offers Bellamy the Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday 6pm-2am shift and he doesn’t hesitate to ask Clarke if she can stay with Octavia those nights.

 

The fourth month Raven moves home. She’s taking over her dads garage because his hands are getting too shaky to properly fix the intricate gears of a car, and Raven’s been missing this old town. Clarke and Bellamy pick her up at the airport, Clarke actually jumping on her and nearly taking Raven out. Raven watches them, the casual way Clarke leans into Bellamy, the way he automatically rests his hand on her back. They’d always been tactile, even in high school, seeming unmoored unless they were somehow touching each other and it made her smile to see them returning to their old habits. They thought she didn’t notice Clarke’s hickeys that day when the truck broke down, or that none of their friends noticed them sneaking around the entirety senior year.

 

The fifth month there’s a subtle shift. Neither of them can identify what exactly caused it, but they both feel it. It’s that magnetic pull, a draw that they’re both trying to fight. Clarke complains about it to Raven, who passes her friend a wrench and tells her to get out her frustration by hitting a piece of sheet metal. It’s loud and does absolutely nothing to help. Octavia starts teasing Bellamy, winking at him behind Clarke’s back and doing exaggerated imitations of him. Even Jake notices, he asks Bellamy why he hasn’t asked Clarke out one day. Bellamy, who’s wheeling him around the courtyard at town center, falters and coughs awkwardly. Jake turns around and with a kindly smile, tells Bellamy that he loves him like a son and would be proud to have him as one in the future. It makes Bellamy tear up and he sniffs, telling Jake he’d think about it.

 

He finally works up the courage to kiss her six months after she gets home. They’re at the state finals for soccer, and the score is 1-1. Octavia is on the field, striker per usual, and they’re both tense with excitement. 30 seconds left and she gets the ball, dribbling it around the defenders, making it closer and closer to the goal. She feints to the left before firing off a shot, an upper right corner beauty that sails into the goal. Clarke and Bellamy start screaming, jumping in the bleachers. Clarke leaps into Bellamy’s arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly. They’re smiling wildly, and Bellamy can’t stop himself from kissing her. They’re smiling so it’s not a great kiss, all clashing teeth and confusion, but they get the hang of it a second later. Clarke pulls back, looking slightly dazed, before they’re tugged along with the crowd to storm the field.

 

“What the FUCK?” Octavia runs full speed towards them, wrapping her legs around Clarke’s waist, “I look up to see you and you’re making out?” Clarke thinks she’s pissed but Octavia smiles and kisses her cheek, saying that she’s always wanted Clarke to be her official sister.

 

They end the night in a diner, Octavia running through all the awesome moments of the game, and Bellamy holding Clarke’s hand under the table. It feels like home.

 

**I hope you're still with me**

**When I'm not quite myself**

**And I pray that you'll lift me**

**When you know I need help**

 

They’re together three months before her dad gets really sick again. The scans show he only has a month, maybe two, left to live. So Clarke basically lives in his hospital room, sleeping on the small chairs and the other bed if its available. Getting her out of the hospital is a group effort, because Abby is still largely absent Raven calls in reinforcements. Monroe and Harper come to help. First, someone makes sure there’s a meal waiting at home because Clarke won’t stay for long, then someone stays at the house to pack her up a new bag and make sure she showers, eats, and sleeps at least an hour in an actual bed, someone has to stay with Jake as well so she feels comfortable leaving.

  
Jake surpasses the one month mark, but is looking worse and worse every day. Clarke is so stressed she’s throwing up almost every morning and is losing weight quickly. Abby is taking a leave of absence from work, which is alarming. She and Clarke sit in tense silence in the hospital room while Jake sleeps.

 

And then, just like that, he’s gone. Bellamy gets a call from Clarke at 2am and between her sobs he makes out the message. He wakes Harper up and asks her to stay with O, and then he races to the hospital. She’s crouched outside of the room, back against the wall, head between her knees. He sits next to her, holds her while she sobs, and once she’s asleep he takes her home. Octavia climbs into the bed after Bellamy lays Clarke down, and Clarke immediately curls around her. He leaves them there, sleeping soundly, while he makes necessary phone calls to friends.

 

The funeral is too much of a production, and Clarke hates it. She stands in the reception line, forced to accept condolences from people she knew her dad thought of as ‘stuck up dicks with god complexes’.

 

The day after she’s taking a walk with Octavia, who offhandedly mentions her period cramps, and she realizes she hasn’t gotten her period in three months. But she’s been under so much stress lately and that must be why she hasn’t gotten it, that also must be why she’s been puking. Octavia notices the look on her face and once Clarke tells her what she’s just realized, they immediately turn back to the house. Octavia runs to the corner store (heavily disguised) and buys a test, one of the smart ones that tells you how many weeks along you are. She pees on the stick and holds Octavia’s hand, waiting for her phone to buzz 3 minutes.

 

‘ _Pregnant: 12-24 weeks_ ’ the test reads.

 

“Well, fuck.”

 

I **t's a warm celebration**

**Of all of our years**

**I dream of our story**

**Of our fairy-tale**

 

He proposed to her with Aurora’s ring, while they were sitting at home watching some old history documentary. Clarke was 6 months along and her stomach was popping out now, making her jeans impossible to button. Currently she was lounging in his boxers and her dads old sweater, balancing popcorn on the belly. He looked at her and knew this was the moment. She said yes, thankfully.

 

They didn’t want a normal wedding, it didn’t seem right with Jake and Aurora gone, so they plan it to be in a month, at the courthouse, friends only. This, of course, gave Octavia conniptions about the lack of pretty wedding things she’d get to do (“I’m pregnant, O, a white wedding dress seems out of the picture now!”) so they told her she had full creative license over the reception after.

 

Abby isn’t invited to the wedding. She and Clarke haven’t spoken in three months, since Clarke found out she was pregnant. Bellamy and Octavia helped her move her stuff to their house one day while Abby was at work and Clarke kept her dad’s watch, some old photos, and some sweaters but that was it. Monty, Jasper, Murphy (and new girlfriend Emori) Harper, and Monroe all flew in (though with the way Monty was looking at Miller, it seems feasible that his stay would be permanent).

 

On the day of Miller serves as Bellamy’s “best man” and helps him into the midnight blue suit Octavia picked out. They drive to the courthouse and arrive moments before Clarke and the girls do. Octavia somehow got Clarke into a white dress, albeit a short one, but white nonetheless. The ceremony is quick and easy, they’re saying their vows later. Once they’re home they stand up in front of the people they love the most and say the words they’ve been wanting to say.

 

“My dad wrote me a letter the week before he died. Here’s what it said, ‘My dearest Clarke, as I write this you are sleeping in the small chair next to my hospital bed, curled into what must be a very uncomfortable position, yet you haven’t complained once. You haven’t complained since I asked you to come home a year ago, or at least you haven’t complained to me. I hope you complain to someone. I hope you complain to Bellamy. Since I first saw the two of you together when you were barely old enough to spell your own names, I knew you were meant to be together. What other 10 year olds could communicate with a single glance? You two were magic. It broke my heart when you lost touch, but now you’re back and he’s here and when he walked into the room to bring you a change of clothes you lit the whole room up. Babygirl, I know you’ve only been together for 6 months officially, but you’ve loved each other for as long as you’ve known each other. You deserve all the love in the world, if only you opened your heart up to it.’ Well my dad was right. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you and I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

 

“There was never a moment when I realized you were the person I wanted to marry, it was more that I never thought of marrying anyone but you. You are the greatest gift I have ever received, Clarke Griffin, and I cannot imagine a life without you. I don’t really know what to say because there are no words that truly encompass my love for you. But I can say this: I promise to love you and our baby for as long as I live.”

 

**Family dinners and family trees**

**Teachin' the kids to say, "Thank you," and, "Please"**

**Knowin' if we stay together that things will be right**

 

They made it through three kids in the small apartment they moved into after O left for college, but when Flynn came into the picture they decided it was time for a change. Ashe was begging for her own room, Daisy needed more outdoors time and Elliot was simply a hellion. The girls all looked alike, their dad’s hair, mom’s eyes, aunts bone structure. They also had their moms ability to bat their eyes and make their dad agree to anything.

 

So they took all the money they’d saved up and received from Clarke’s inheritance from Jake and bought a plot of land in the countryside and built their house. It was stunning, enough rooms for each of the kids and friends, as well as a library/study for Bellamy (who is back at school, studying to become a history teacher), art room for Clarke (who is an art teacher at the local high school), and a large playroom for the girls.

 

They’d liked their two years and in addition to a new baby (Flynn was born a month after they moved in) had also collected cats (strays would just wander in), dogs (three of them, all big, all slobbery), 2 horses, 8 chickens, and some ducks that would just come as they pleased.

 

When Elliot came into the house complaining about the girl in her grade who she disagreed with one day and agreed with another, Bellamy and Clarke just smiled. They had done it. Stayed friends, survived the worst, fallen in love, gotten pregnant under the worst of circumstances, and raised four beautiful daughters.

 

They were complete.

 

**I want you**

**To look right in my eyes**

**To tell me you love me**

**To be by my side**

**I want you**

**At the end of my life**

**Wanna see your face when I fall with grace**

**At the moment I die**

**Is that alright?**


End file.
